The dish:
The film:
The reason:
Matt King is just trying to keep his head above water, what with his tempestuous daughters and coma-bound wife. As he's keen to point out to us, it might look like heaven in Hawaii, but the tips and turns of life are just as rough as elsewhere. This archipelago of cucumber slices and diced fish gives us the taste of paradise, without having to get on a plane. It's a version of poke; the classic Hawaiian dish found in most pupus (snacks usually eaten while moonily looking at a sunset).
Like the emotions generated by "The Descendants," here the protein is raw. There's also plenty of salt from the soy sauce, a good stand in for the tears you'll shed while watching George Clooney ugly-run in boat shoes.
The way:
Poke: Makes 20, serves 8-10 as a canape
Equipment: 1 knife.
Shopping/foraging
1 Lebanese cucumber, cut into coins half a centimeter thick.
125 grams of sashimi grade fish
1 spring onion, finely diced
1/2 avocado, mashed
2 tsp of black sesame seeds
Red chili powder to taste
Here's how we roll
1. Cut the fish into as small a dice as you can manage (don't use a food processor, it will turn it to mush best fed to cats).
2. Cut the cucumber into slices 1 cm thick and then hollow out some of the center of each slice with a teaspoon.
3. Fill the well in the center of the cucumber slice with a dab of avocado mash.
4. Toss the fish pieces in a bowl with two teaspoons of soy sauce. Arrange a pinch of the soy dressed sashimi pieces on top of the avocado and cucumber.
5. Adorn each sashimi/avocado/cucumber round with sliced spring onion, black sesame seeds and chili powder to taste.
For step by step illustrated instructions go here.
Serve along with 'The Artist not-so-silent Martinis' and 'Moneyball truffled popcorn balls'.